Maxim's MAXREFDES89# provides an ideal interface for anyone developing with brushed DC motors. The design is an mbed-compatible, Arduino^® form factor shield for the rapid development of brushed, DC motor applications. The shield contains four MAX14871, full-bridge DC motor drivers for driving up to four motors. A MAX17501, DC-DC converter allows the system to operate from a single 7 V_DC to 36 V_DC power supply. Four MAX4704 4:1 multiplexers permit setting the current regulation mode of the MAX14871, while two MAX5387 digital potentiometers provide the ability to set the motor current limit. A MAX7300 GPIO expander supports interfacing each motor driver circuit to the mbed-enabled microcontroller platform.

An mbed library for the shield is available at the following link, MAX14871_Shield Library. The library abstracts the details of interfacing with the supporting hardware of the reference design and allows the user to focus on their application.

The MAXREFDES89# is a tool for rapid development that offers optimal flexibility to the user during the development of their application. In a final design, the MAX14871 may be the only required silicon for driving a brushed DC motor and regulating the motor’s current.